Final Fantasy: Nexus
by maestro7
Summary: Based on the style of Final Fantasy, including the standard features. Chapter 7 up - still 2 reviews? Sniff...
1. Encounter at Aktus

Kenris was searching.  
Searching more than said it. His whole life, he'd spent searching. Searching for hope. Searching for truth. Searching for meaning.  
And he hadn't found it.  
He swung his sword aimlessly. Wind Knight of Aktus. Where had that gotten him? Wandering streets. In the rain. At night. Wishing for a better life. Wishing... for purpose. Wishing for meaning.  
And so his life droned on. Until that night.  
Kenris was, as usual, dressed in the armour of a Wind Knight. The light body gear, the soft-soled boots, and of course the specialised helmet and sword that gave the Wind Knights their true power. His hair, almost shoulder-length, was a pale green colour; a trademark, again, of the Wind Knights. A side effect of some of what they'd done to him to make him what he was.  
The rain battered down on him as he walked the streets of Aktus. His armour did little to shield him from its constant bombardment, and the overall effect was that of a largely aggravated knight. Still, that didn't stop him from doing his duty.  
In a nearby building, there was a flash - almost as bright as a lightning bolt - accompanied by a large crashing sound. Kenris looked up, heard a scream of pain from inside. Concentrating, he determined that the sounds were on the second floor. No obstacle.  
Swirling his blade, he let the wind carry him. In a practised manner, he guided the winds gently, and the gust swirled around him and pushed him directly up to a second-storey window. Swinging his sword, he turned the window into an entrance, and landed neatly inside.  
He began to hunt. It didn't take him long to find the room the sounds had come from. But much to his confusion, it was almost empty.  
The room's sole occupant was a young woman. Her dark hair flowed over the shoulders of her torn shirt. Cowering in one corner of the room, she made the occasional frightened whimper. As he entered the room, she looked up.  
"You... you're a knight?"  
"Indeed." said Kenris. "What happened here?" His survey of the room took in broken furniture, damaged books, shattered glass.  
She was almost at tears. "I did." she said finally. "I... happened."  
He looked her over again. "What do you mean?"  
"I don't understand it. Something happened to me." She looked, he decided, truly terrified. "For a moment, I was... someone or something else. I was out of control... please, help..."  
He was unsure - she was someone else? "How can I help?"  
"Protect me. Let me stay with you. Promise me you'll stop me if it happens again."  
He looked her over yet again. He didn't understand what had happened to her. But he did understand that she was traumatised. And he couldn't leave her here... "Fine. Come with me."  
Wordlessly, the two of them made their way out of the building and onto the street. "Where are we going?" she asked, eventually.  
"Nowhere, really." he said. "I'm patrolling. Basically, I want you to just come with me. All I do is wander the streets, really."  
"Oh. Okay." she said. "Oh, uh... what's your name, anyway?"  
"Kenris." he replied. "Kenris Javentine. Wind Knight, second grade."  
"Ah. I'm Reya." stated the other, her tone now almost emotionless. "Reya Nexus."  
Again silent, the pair of them continued to wander the streets of Aktus. Kenris continued to ponder on this girl. In a way, he was grateful for her as a distraction from his usual, painful introspection. But she confused him. She claimed that she had become someone or something else; what could she mean?  
But even his questions were interrupted. A pair of men, dressed in official-looking clothing, stepped in front of them. "Excuse us, please." said one of them. "This is the Nexus girl? She'll be coming with us."  



	2. Escape

"And just who might you be?" queried Kenris. Important-looking suits were all well and good, but they didn't say much about who a person was.  
"We've been sent by Godar. But you are not our concern. Hand over the girl."  
Kenris glanced at Reya. She was cowering behind him. She shook her head vigourously. "It doesn't look to me as though she wants to go with you." he said.  
"That is not your concern. We will take her to Godar, whether you like it or not. And whether she likes it or not."  
"I was with you right up to the 'whether' part." said the knight. "If you want her, you'll have to go through me." At that, he unsheathed his sword and lowered the visor on his helmet.  
The man smirked. "Bring it on." He took a quarterstaff from where it was tied to his back and tried to bring it to bear.  
But Wind Knights do not fall so easily. Kenris swirled his sword in a series of confusing motions and even as the man began to draw close he was swept away by a powerful gust of wind. The other man didn't even get to reach his weapon before he too was thrown far away.  
"Come on. Let's get out of here." said Kenris. Reya glanced at him, saw his face through the visor, and decided to remain silent. Quickly, the two of them made their way through a series of back streets and away from the pair of mysterious men.  
"Any idea who they were?" he asked her.  
"No..." she replied. "But I'm sure they didn't seem nice. Do you think it's something to do with what happened to me?"  
Kenris pondered on this. He was convinced, now, that something strange had happened to her. But he wasn't clear on exactly what. "I really don't know. But I think they may have friends in high places."  
"So..." she began to sound worried again.  
"I think we should get out of town."  
"Out of Aktus?" her voice was clearly confused and worried by this turn of events. "But... aren't you... don't you..."  
"I am a knight of Aktus. But I promised to keep you safe. And I don't think that as long as we stay here, you're safe."  
"But... are you sure you want to leave your people?" her voice retained its general sense of confusion. "I'm... not that... important..."  
"And I am?" he queried. "Look. I've spent every day of my life searching for something to drive me. If what drives me is to defend you, then... so be it."  
She looked him up and down. "Okay... let's go."  
Slowly, they made their way towards the entrance of the town. But to Kenris' dismay, he saw that by the gate were a trio of men dressed just like the pair they had encountered just moments previously.  
"Okay, we need another way out." he said.  
"I think... I can get us through the wall..." said Reya suddenly.  
"Through?" questioned Kenris. "What do you mean, through?"  
"You know what happened to me... before?" she asked.  
"Sort of..." he answered.  
"Well... I think I can... make it happen again." she said, slowly.  
"Err. You sure you want to do that?" he asked, slightly worried by the possibility.  
"Well... there's not many other ways out, are there?" she asked. Her voice was wavering slightly, but she seemed determined.  
"You think you'll be alright through it?"  
"Well... it didn't last long before... I think I'll be okay..."  
"Fine. If you think you'll be alright... and you really want to try... go ahead, I guess." He pondered, wondering if this could work. She had just damn well better not get hurt, he thought.  
"I'll... try..." she said. As he watched, then, there was a brilliant flash around her. And then her entire body began to change. In a matter of seconds, the young woman was gone. In its place was some kind of... creature.  
The thing turned to the wall. It was as if it was... struggling inside. Finally, it made some kind of blast from its hands. A golden beam lanced to the wall beside it and a huge hole was generated. Abruptly the light and the explosive sound was repeated, and Reya was back.  
"Phew." she said. "Let's go."  
As they quickly made their way through their newly-created passageway, someone clubbed them both on the back of the head with a quarterstaff. 


	3. Godar

It was dark.  
But the darkness wasn't absolute. Kenris could make out various shapes in the darkness; more so as he began to reach a greater level of consciousness and concentrate on what he was doing. It appeared that the room he was in was rather small, and packed with equipment. A supply room for a complex of some kind, perhaps?  
He recalled that he should be able to see in the dark with the visor on his helmet. He reached for his head, determined it wasn't there, and began to search for it further.  
He eventually decided that his helmet, along with his sword and other equipment, had been taken from him and not placed in this room. Not particularly surprising, he supposed.  
Finally he found what seemed to be a door. He tried to open it, but found it locked. He was beginning to get angry. He decided it was time to blow this door down.  
The power of a Wind Knight was in his sword and helmet, it was said. But a little-known fact about them was that they merely use those tools as a means of focusing their abilities. They can still, to a certain degree, use these abilities without them.  
Nevertheless, Kenris was having difficulty summoning up the winds by his own hand motions. However, he soon found a piece of some wood-like material of appropriate length in a storage box and began moving it in the required circles, creating a large force of wind moving around him. The power built and built, finally becoming a mass of kinetic energy-charged air around him. In one final motion, he directed the air at the door, slamming the door with the huge burst of energy. It collapsed, and he made his way out into a corridor beyond.

-==[-Nexus-]==-

This room was not dark.  
Instead, it was filled with high-tech looking devices. Controls for several unusual devices were scattered around the room, staffed by black-clad officers who appeared totally dedicated to their job.  
Which, it appeared, was to obey the orders of the man standing before Reya. The man was tall, and dressed in a blue cloak. He had a notable air of authority about him. His name was Godar.  
"And in short," he finished his spiel to her, "We want you to help us save the world."  
This last part confused Reya. "Save the world?" she asked. This had, she decided, been most likely the most confusing day of her life.  
"There is a person. A person who is very quickly becoming more powerful than anything else in the world." said Godar gravely. "His name is Andar. He has already taken over the entirety of the South Continent. His powers continue to grow. If we don't stop him soon, he will finish his domination of the North Continent and come here. But I believe domination is not his only goal."  
"What else, then?" asked the still-confused Reya.  
"I believe he is after an artefact which can enhance his powers even further. With that artefact, I believe he could destroy the entire planet."  
"Why would he want to do that?" she queried.  
"I can't claim to understand his motives." said Godar. "But every person who has ever recovered that artefact in history has made it their mission to destroy the planet. Each time, they've been stopped. But none of them have had power approaching that of Andar."  
"But... why do you want _me_?" she asked, trying to gain some idea of why she was here.  
"You are Reya Nexus, inheritor of the power of the Nexus line. The power which grants the ability to transform into creatures. One of those creatures is the only thing which I believe can destroy Andar."  
"Power? To transform?" Reya said. She considered, becoming more and more frightened of this man. "No! It's not a power! It's a curse! I have no power. I have a horrible thing which can happen to me which leaves me with no control over my own self - and even strips me of my own body!"  
"Reya." said Godar, firmly. "You are the only one who can save the world. You _must_ help us."  
"If you want me to try to turn into that... monster... then no. Find another minion." she said. "And where is my friend?"  
"Your friend?" queried Godar. "Oh, the knight. Somewhere safe."  
"You want me to help you, but you lock up my friend?" asked Reya, incredulously. "Go find some other slave."

-==[-Nexus-]==-

Kenris had almost found it, he was sure. There was some kind of control room in this facility, and he was almost there. If it was indeed the same people whom he and Reya had met in the city who had taken him captive, then this was presumably where their leader, Godar, would be found.  
He stepped up to a large security door. There were an array of locks on it. But he'd been smashing through doors for almost an hour now, and this one wasn't going to slow him down either. Once again the winds swirled and slammed into the door, smashing it to shreds.  
Inside was indeed some kind of control room. There were devices manned by numerous people all through the room. And up on the platform at the centre was a man dressed in blue, and... Reya!  
He wanted to use his wind powers to get him there more quickly, but flying was all but impossible without his helmet. Instead, he resorted to a run, which quickly got him to the centre of the room.  
"Found you!" he said to Reya. "Let's get out of here."  
"Not so quickly, please." said Godar, stepping forward. "We need her assistance."  
"I've told you!" said Reya. "I'm not helping!"  
"Ah, but you must." said Godar.  
"Enough!" said Kenris. "We're leaving."  
"Guards!" said Godar. "Apprehend him!"  
Kenris smirked. "I'll take your guards." he said.  
"With what?" remarked Godar. "A lump of wood?"  
The winds began to form into a swirl of motion around Kenris once again. "Bring it on." he said. 


	4. The Quest

Obediently, they brought it on. Soldiers began to charge from every direction, trying to take the knight down. Kenris spun his lump of wood, sending streams of wind in one after another direction. One after another soldier was thrown away, into walls, panels or other implements.  
Still, there were hundreds of them.  
Kenris continued to sling his rivals about the room, but in his concentration he took no note of Godar. Finally the older man drew his staff and swung it at Kenris.  
It didn't reach. Half way along its path, it was intercepted by Reya. "No!" she said. "You have no right to hurt him! Or to keep us here!"  
Godar dropped into a combat stance. "Try and stop me, then." he said.  
"Fine." said Reya. And with a blinding flash and a loud noise, she once again... changed. Again, in her place was the powerful but hideous creature Kenris had seen at the edge of Aktus. It instantly leapt at Godar and wrestled the staff from his hands. It growled, and opened its mouth. From somewhere inside its mouth formed a ball of energy, which shot outwards and slammed into Godar, knocking him almost unconscious. And with that, she returned to her usual state.  
The fighting had stopped now. All of the soldiers were simply staring up at Reya.  
Godar stood up and dusted himself off. "That's what you can morph to?" he said. "No wonder you're not fond of it."  
"It's... so hard to control it." she said. "It's like it's fighting against me... sometimes I can't even decide to change back. Sometimes I don't even decide to change. It just... happens..."  
"I can help, you know." said Godar. "In exchange for your help against Andar, I can make sure that by the time we're done you have full control over yourself. And you'll have some other morphing abilities more... nice than that one."  
"We don't want your help." said Kenris.  
"Wait." said Reya. "You're sure that I'll be in total control of myself?"  
"Yes." said Godar. "Doing this is going to involve finding out a lot about how your morphing happens, and how your ancestors have been able to control it. You will learn. You'll have to."  
"Fine. But he comes with me." she said firmly, indicating Kenris.  
Godar looked at Kenris. "Excess baggage. But if you insist... he can come. I guess."  
"Good. What are we doing first?" asked Reya.  
"Well, you are certainly the most crucial to this quest. But we also need others. We need a complete team if we are to defeat Andar."  
"Who are we after now?"  
"His name is Orca. He is one of the most able magic users the world has ever seen. He is in the city of Virgus."  
"Err... isn't that on the South Continent?" she asked, a worried tone in her voice.  
"Yes." said Godar. "We do, however, have a way in and out."  
"And that is?" interjected Kenris.  
"You people need to be introduced to my marvellous WorldRunner." said Godar. "Take us to Virgus!"

--==[-Nexus-]==--

The torus-shaped facility was positioned not far from the mountain-top city of Aktus. At Godar's command, the sound of engines was heard, and the entire construction sunk under the ground and quite convincingly covered its tracks. Some time later, on the South Continent, near the coast, the same facility rose up from the ground, again looking as if it had always been there...

--==[-Nexus-]==--

"We're here." said Godar.  
"Not bad." said Kenris. "Where else can this take us?"  
"It has several set entry points; three on each continent. It simply travels through tunnels we found underground - as far as we know, we're the only ones to find them yet."  
"Right. Then let's move."

Virgus was a fairly large city - larger than Aktus. Godar had been planning to travel past the walls using some kind of underground tunnelling system one of his people had developed, but Kenris insisted on his way. In moments, the three of them were over the wall and inside.  
"Where is he?" asked Kenris.  
"This way." stated Godar. The group quickly made their way into the inner city and past it - all the way to the slums at the southern end.  
"In this building." said Godar.  
"How can you possibly tell?" asked Reya, incredulously. "Knowing from some kind of reports what part of town someone's in is one thing, but how can you pinpoint him to the exact building?"  
"It's... an ability I have." said the older man. "I can detect the location and nature of magic used within a certain radius of myself."  
"Wait." said Kenris. "You mean this guy's using magic right now?"  
Godar stepped towards the building. "Orca... is always using magic. You'll see."  
It took them some time to reach the appropriate room. The trio stepped inside. "Greetings, Orca." said Godar. "My name is Godar Havnam. We need your help."  
Kenris looked over Orca. He was male, dark-haired, and around fourteen years of age. 


	5. Soldiers!

Orca took little convincing.

"So, you basically want me to help you save, like, the world, huh?" he asked as Godar finished his explanation.

"Effectively." said the blue-robed man.

"And I get to use my magic?"

"Indeed."

"Right." stated the kid. "I'm in."

Kenris smirked and glanced at Godar, expecting to see a pleased look. But instead he found one of great distress. "What's wrong?" he queried.

"I sense more magic users nearby. Heading this way." said Godar gravely.

"Magic users?" said Reya. "What kind?"

"Weapons." stated Godar.

"Weapons?" asked Kenris. "What do you mean, weapons?"

Orca glanced at him. "You haven't seen many of Andar's troops, have you?" he said, smirking slightly.

"Not yet, no." said Kenris.

"Well... they have some interesting uses of magic. They made a machine that uses magic to shoot stuff real fast. So fast it can kill stuff."

Godar interrupted. "It shoots a solid piece of metal which takes almost no time to reach its target and causes serious injuries when it does. There's some kind of creation magic in there too - they don't run out of ammunition like an archer runs out of arrows."

"Great." said Kenris. "Hunks of metal flying through the air fast, right?"

"Yeah." said Orca.

"Where are they? I'll handle this."

Godar seemed to concentrate. "There's a few outside, but a pair have reached this floor and are heading along the corridor towards us now."

"Got it." said Kenris. "You lot get out of here. I'll take care of them." With that, he opened the door and stepped into the corridor.

Reya looked around the room carefully. There seemed to be no exit. "Time to be moving." she said. And with that, she once again initiated the blinding light that accompanied her changing forms. In her monster form, she blasted a hole in the wall and leapt the three storeys to the ground. Godar quickly followed, using a rope he'd pulled from somewhere to rappel his way down the side of the building, and Orca momentarily levitated down.

However, the armed soldiers weren't only on the inside. A pair of them rounded the side of the building and came face-to-face with the trio. They immediately reached for their weapons, small black objects featuring what seemed to be a barrel of some kind and a handle with a small arrangement they could pull, presumably to fire.

Godar reacted quickly, too quickly for them to fire on him. His staff came up and around, slamming one of them in the face. It quickly came down again, this time hard on the man's hand, causing him a lot of pain and forcing him to drop the weapon. The man reacted by sending a one-two punch into Godar's face.

Meanwhile, the other man fired two shells into Reya. They had little effect on her beyond slowing her down a little, however, and in almost no time she was on top of him, tearing at him with her huge claws. But the man had a hidden weapon, and he came up and stabbed at her with the knife he had concealed. Somehow he pierced a weaker portion of her skin and then quickly knocked her away. That was all the opening Orca needed, however, and even as Reya was flung from the battered soldier, he fried his target with a flaming stream of pure energy, wiping him out almost completely.

Godar was locked in combat with the other man His staff gave him a slight advantage, despite the man's evident martial training, but the best he was able to do was hold him off and prevent much injury to himself. The soldier was fast and brutal in his attacks and nearly perfect in his defence. But somewhere behind Godar there was the flash-explosion effect of Reya changing forms, which surprised the man enough to grant Godar a brief opening. He slammed the staff hard against the side of the soldier's head, connecting with a pleasing knocking sound and rendering the man quite effectively unconscious.

Reya looked herself over. Her real body was only slightly affected, it seemed, by the severe and painful injuries her other form had suffered. But that was not their immediate concern. Even Reya's less trained ears could detect the sound of soldiers headed their way.

"I'll hold them off!" yelled Godar. "You two get out of the city and meet me back at the WorldRunner!" And with that, he ran around the corner to face the oncoming soldiers.

"Right." said Reya. "Let's move."

--==[-Nexus-]==--

The moment the soldiers saw Kenris, they opened fire. The shards of metal blazed towards him. But Kenris had been ready. Gusts of wind shot out simultaneously with each firing, knocking the bullets far off their intended course. Kenris' sword was a blur of motion, and the bullets continued to surge away from him in seemingly random directions. After firing continuously for around thirty seconds, the two soldiers stopped, looking rather confused.

That was all the opening that Kenris needed. Gusts of wind slammed into them, pressing them both against the far wall. The wind then propelled him ahead to reach them. "I'll take those." he said, taking the weapons they'd been carrying. And with a blow from the flat of his sword quickly delivered to each of them, he settled to the ground from his position a couple of centimetres above it and proceeded to make his way out of the building.

Outside, he immediately took in the scene unfolding between eight soldiers and Godar. Bullets streaked through the air, but Godar kept the soldier he was fighting between the others and himself. But Kenris knew it couldn't last. Bringing his wind powers into play, he sent streams of air firstly at the two soldiers he decided were most likely to hit the other man. Another soldier turned to face him and opened fire; not being prepared to deflect the attack, Kenris resorted to simply diving to one side. As the man's attacks tracked towards him, he again manipulated the wind to send himself straight upwards. While the soldier tried to see where his target had suddenly vanished to, Kenris quickly sent another burst of wind at him, knocking him to the ground.

Godar decided that the fighter he had been keeping close to himself had exhausted his usefulness, knocking him out with a blow to the head. Two sword-bearing soldiers immediately charged him, and he simultaneously intercepted one of their attacks with his staff and planted a kick into the stomach of that same attacker, quickly bringing the staff around to block the sword swipe from the other man. The two soldiers glanced at each other, nodded, and came at him with a simultaneous drive from both of their blades. Godar managed to catch it all on his staff, but to his dismay the two edges embedded themselves in the wood. He let go of the staff and even as the two men tried to remove their blades from the weapon he delivered hard punches to their heads, leaving them unconscious.

Meanwhile, Kenris brought himself to a steady hover around three metres above the ground, then swapped his sword to his left hand. In his right, he took hold of one of the weapons the soldiers had used on him earlier. The shots, with nudges from wind bursts to correct his aim, didn't miss. The battle was soon over.

"Where are they?" Kenris asked Godar.

"Heading out. I told them to meet us back at the WorldRunner." said the other man. "We'd better find a way out ourselves."

"No problem." said Kenris. He grabbed the other man by the hand, and rapidly sent the pair of them straight upwards. Moments later, they were outside.

--==[-Nexus-]==--

"Okay, I give up." said Reya at last. "Where are we?"

"No idea." said Orca glumly. "I've never really been out of the slums. And this city is pretty damn big."

"You got that part right." Reya sighed and continued to look around, wandering rather aimlessly along the mass of streets, back alleys and tall buildings.

Until she felt a pressure against one of her pockets. "Hey!" she said, spinning around. "Come back!" Running as fast as she could away was the form of a slight young woman.

Orca decided to force the issue. "See how psyched you really are... heh heh. Sleep!" A white beam lanced from his hand to the young woman, and she promptly collapsed to the ground, clearly sleeping very soundly.

The two of them made their way to her unconscious form. "How... did you do that?" queried Reya.

"Magic, of course." said Orca. "That particular spell's not so hard. I'm really more into black stuff though, myself. I like fire and lightning and stuff. But I can do some basic white stuff like that. Oh, and blinding people a bit and stuff."

"Maybe... you could show me some time?" said Reya. "I want to... make some kind of contribution to this. I have to be useful for something other than this stupid morph business."

"I guess so..." said the boy. "So, do we wake her up?"

"Yeah, I guess. We need someone to guide us out of here."

"Right." said Orca. "Grab her arm." He watched as Reya complied. "Time for some darker stuff. Dispel!" The energy forming at his hand hit the girl, causing her to awaken instantly. Reya's grip was firm, and despite her immediate attempt to escape she found herself unable.

"What do you want?" asked the girl, desperately. "I didn't take anything! Honest!"

"Who are you, anyway?" queried Reya.

"My name's Narix. Narix Hawkus." she said, more quietly.

"We need your help. We've lost our friends, and we need to find our way out of the city. Can you guide us?" said Reya, almost condescendingly.

"Err..." Narix thought for a moment. This place was a dump anyway - maybe she could convince these people to take her with them! "I guess so. We're not actually all that far from the exit."

With Narix to guide them, it wasn't all that long before they found their way to the town gates. With a small amount of persuasion, Narix convinced Reya to take her with them until they found her friends. They made their way overland to the WorldRunner, and stepped inside. Reya led the way to the control room. Narix looked around, took in the officers, Kenris, Godar. Wait - Godar?

"Uncle?" she asked aloud. 


	6. Travelling

Godar looked at Narix, stared. "Narix?" he said, incredulous. "How did you get here?"

Narix glanced at Reya. "I helped this nice girl out of Virgus, and she brought me here. She said she was taking me to her friends. Now I know you're one of them... maybe I should be going."

Godar's voice was gruff. "Yes. You should."

Reya stared at him. "You." she said, angrily. "You say you want to save the world. But while you're travelling in comfort in your WorldRunner, your own niece is stuck stealing to survive in the back streets of a city you're trying to fight against! How can you claim to be trying to save the world if you don't even help your own family?"

Godar glanced at her, then sat down in the command chair of the WorldRunner. "It's not your business." he said, after a notable pause. "Narix and I haven't been on good terms for... a long time."

Narix scanned the room, trying to take in what had just been said. "Trying to... save the world?" she asked. "Uncle Godar is trying to save the world? That's a laugh." She snickered. "Want to know about him? Want to know what he really is?"

"Narix-" began Godar quickly.

"Shut up, Godar." said the young thief. "I'll make you a deal. You don't want these people to know about all that stuff. You take me with you and I don't tell them."

Godar looked at her face, sighed. "This was why I never wanted to see you again." he said. "Fine, come with us. But only if you help."

"Right." said Narix. "Save the world. Huh. Let's go."

--==[-Nexus-]==--

Narix and Godar both kept to themselves for much of the trip. Godar hadn't explained to any of them exactly where it was that they were going or what they were doing next, but Reya still seemed willing to follow along for now, and that had been enough to keep Kenris here. Orca, for his part, was still enchanted by the idea of saving the world.

"So," said Kenris, "Godar has some big secret. Why am I not surprised?"

Reya raised her eyes from their intent gaze at the table directly in front of her. "I don't understand him. Some part of him seems... good and noble, somehow, but it's like that's only half of him."

"I'm not so inclined to trust him, really. He did kidnap you, remember?" stated Kenris.

"Yeah." said the young woman. "But if he can give me control of myself, then... I'm willing to do whatever."

"Right." said the Wind Knight. "And I'm your defender. Okay? Remember that. If you ever get into any trouble, that's what I'm for."

--==[-Nexus-]==--

A couple of hours later, the door chimed on Reya's room. "Come in," she called absentmindedly.

Orca stepped into the room, finding Reya sitting at the desk in one corner, sitting and apparently just thinking. "Hey," he said. "Still interested in some magic lessons?"

She looked up at him. "Yeah... I guess so." she said. "I want to be some use without having to become something dangerous."

"I guess I can understand that." said the kid. "I guess I should see what potential you have."

"Potential?" asked Reya.

"We all have a bunch of magical ability inside us. I have quite a lot of it, although it's my control of it that makes me so awesome, rather than the quantity." He grinned. "Still, if you don't have enough, we may as well not bother."

"Ah... okay." said the woman. "How do you tell?"

"Magic for magic," smirked Orca. "There's this spell I can use to check out stuff like that. It's called Scan. Has a bunch of other uses too. Tells me any elemental stuff you might have, and whether you're hurt or not."

"Not bad..." said Reya. "Go ahead, then."

"Right." said the mage. "Let's see what you've got inside - Scan!" Even as he finished the statement, Reya felt as though she was being watched by a million eyes. It was very uncomfortable for a moment, then the feeling was gone.

"Sorry if that felt weird." said Orca. "But... wow."

"Wow?"

"Yeah. Wow. This is quite amazing. You have the most huge pile of magical stuff in you I've ever seen. But... it's kinda weird. It shows up a bit different to mine and most people's I've seen. Most of you does, actually."

Reya looked at him. "Like I'm... different." she said, slowly.

"Kind of." he said, not realising exactly what she meant. "Anyway, you wanna learn some stuff?"

"Yeah, okay." she said, clearing her mind of her concerns for the present. "Where do we start?"

"Well." he said. "White magic is different to black magic. You basically just use spells to do stuff, but with black you call up the kind of thing you wanna use and then do stuff with it. To learn your white spells, you have to find and use these things." Orca reached into his pocket, pulled out a small, glowing blue cube. "Here... take it."

Reya took the cube and examined it. No heat emanated from it, and it had no notable properties aside from its perfect cubic shape and the blue glow which continued to protrude from it. "What now?" she asked eventually.

"That thing is called a Learning Cube." said the kid. "Hold it in front of you and say 'absorb'."

She complied, raising her hand to face level. "Absorb!" she said. As she did, the blue light extended beyond the edge of the cube, and then appeared to somehow seep into her hand. In seconds, it had completely disappeared. And in another second, the cube shrunk and vanished into nothingness. "Er." she said. "I didn't feel a thing..."

"It's okay, that's normal." said Orca. "Now you have a basic Cure spell in you, though. You just have to learn to cast it."

"Al...right." she said eventually. This was very strange to her; magic was something she had never even considered in the past. "How do I do that?"

"It's all about talking." said Orca. "The key is the name of the spell. This one is obviously Cure. But that's not all you have to say. Every spell needs a preamble. I can say basically anything I want as a preamble to a spell," he grinned again, "but that's just because I rock so much. Most people need to say something related to the spell. Some people go for poetry or whatever. Come up with whatever, really, as long as it's about curing and stuff. You have to say at least six syllables." He looked himself over. "Here, I've got a bruised arm. Try it on me."

Reya struggled to take all of this in. "Let me see... Powers, come and help my friend - Cure!" Much to her surprise, she was instantly enveloped in a blue glow, and a beam arced from her to Orca. Orca was then surrounded by a faint green light for a moment, in which the bruise on his arm completely vanished. "Whoa..." she said.

"Not bad." said Orca. "Here's a couple more Cubes - this one's Scan, and this one's Blink. You can practice with them for a bit. I'm gonna go get some rest, okay?"

--==[-Nexus-]==--

Four hours later, the WorldRunner came to a halt.

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Some reviews would be really cool! =)

I'd like to know people are actually reading this.

-maestro7 


	7. Nexus Point One

Sorry it's taken me so long to get this one up.

I would, by the way, greatly appreciate some reviews. I'm up to chapter 7 and I've got plenty of other things to do if no-one is actually reading this. I also would like to know if people like the way the story is going, and so on. So... PLEASE REVIEW!

And with that past us, on with the show...

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"Alright." said Godar once everyone was assembled. "We've just arrived at the first of the eight Nexus Points scattered around the globe. These are where Reya's ancestors apparently lived, and hopefully contained their secrets. They're arranged in a circular pattern with seven around the outer edge of the circle and one in the exact centre. Each one is numbered - we're starting with number one."

"What's in there?" asked Kenris. "Monsters, guardians?"

"To be honest," said Godar, "I have no real idea. I found each of the sites, but I haven't been inside any of them yet. Just close enough to determine that they were what I thought they were."

"Right." said Kenris. "So, we go in swords drawn." His tone left no room for considered argument.

"Alright." stated Godar. "Let's go."

--==[-Nexus-]==--

The Nexus Point appeared, from the outside, to be a small terracotta building. Once they opened the door, however, they soon discovered that it was much more. The door led directly to a steep, long stairwell. Cautiously, the made their way in.

At the bottom, they found a circular room. It was around thirty feet, both in diameter and ceiling height. No exits were visible beside the one they had used to arrive. In the exact centre was a pedestal, on which was a small, blue button.

"Looks pretty simple." said Narix, heading directly for the button.

"Wait." said Godar. "These Nexus people were powerful, and this was one of their sanctuaries. I doubt that one of us pressing the button just like that is going to be a good idea."

Narix peered at him. "Well, you want to turn around and leave? Or do you want to try it anyway?"

Godar thought for a moment. "Reya can press it." he said, at length.

Reya looked around at everyone. "Err... okay." she said. Slowly, she walked up to the pedestal. She paused, examined it for a moment, and then proceeded to press the button.

For a moment, nothing happened. Then there was a grinding noise and a large portion of wall slid away, revealing some kind of doorway leading further into the facility. A voice came from the walls as this occurred. "An'jeki Reya Nexus. Ekar toba'jeki kenter obi'ja."

"Cool." said Narix. "Let's go!"

Reya stared. "It... knew my name? How?"

Kenris pondered. "This is a pretty weird place. I'm guessing that this thing knowing your name is going to be the smallest surprise we get." The two of them looked up, noticing that Godar and Narix were already around the next corner and that Orca was now waiting there, glancing around it and back at the two of them. "Let's keep moving."

The next room the group came to was larger than the first. In the corners were several small door-like arrangements, and the far side present a barred door preventing further travel. "More cut-offs." said Narix. "You'd think they didn't want intruders to get in or something."

Godar glanced at her. "Right. And you know all about intruding."

"At least I... blah. Let's just do this." she replied.

The group of them began to examine things. "Uh, guys?" said Orca, after a moment.

"Not now, kid." said Godar. "We've gotta solve this."

"Um, it's kind of important." said Orca.

Reya glanced at him. As she did so, she took in the collection of monsters which had come from the once-closed door-type exits and were now advancing on the party. "He's right. Watch out!" she called.

Narix spun to see what was happening, rapidly taking in the situation and drawing her pair of daggers. Even as she did so, Godar drew his staff and turned, seeing a monster leaping directly at him. It was similar in appearance to a large cat, but with fur-less, purple skin. He reacted quickly, but not quickly enough. The creature slammed into him, knocking him to the ground in a single blow.

Kenris acted faster. A similar creature leapt at him, but, thinking rapidly, he called his wind powers into action and sent himself about three metres straight up, dodging the creature narrowly. His first concern upon reaching this altitude was to check on Reya, but it appeared that the things were completely ignoring her. His gaze then flickered to Orca, who was being beset by a trio of imp-like creatures. But as he was about to move to aid him, he looked up to see a large bat-like monster flying straight at him.

Narix, so far unendangered by the strike on her allies, decided to make a move. Seeing that the number of monsters targeting Godar had grown to three now, she leapt to his aid. Charging behind on of the creatures, she opened up with a three-stage slash attack with her daggers which sunk deep into the thing's skin. Spinning, she came around into another strike at the other pair of attackers, knocking them off of her relative's fallen form. Godar climbed up, glanced at her, grunted, and retrieved his staff.

Kenris called his wind powers into play and sent a stream of kinetically charged air at the bat-thing. To his dismay, it was largely unaffected, continuing to fly straight at him. _Guess I'll have to do this the old-fashioned way_, he thought, propelling himself straight at the monster and stabbing into it with his sword. The creature had more power than he thought, however, and he was soon entangled with it and the pair of them began spiralling about the room, out of control, as they struggled wildly for control.

Orca watched, continually stepping back as the trio of critters advanced on him, gradually backing him into a corner. Finally he decided he would have to take action. "Can they hurt me through my fire? Flame Shield!" As he finished the incantation, a solid wall of fire formed around his body. One of the imp-creatures, trying to make an attack, jerked back as his hand was burnt in the attempt. Orca watched the pitiful strikes of the enemies and snickered.

Godar brought his staff around at one of the two creatures now consistently targeting him, the third having decided to focus on Narix. Its catlike form jerked back, but was almost unharmed. It leapt at him again, but he dodged to one side, narrowly evading it. Still, it was only a matter of time before he took another hit - perhaps fatal this time.

Kenris continued to stab and slash his Wind Sword at the bat-creature as it spiralled uncontrollably about the room. "Die, dammit!" he said, finally swinging his sword in a one-two strike at the bat-thing's neck. The creature screamed at the attack and slumped, spiralling towards the ground as it passed its final breath. Kenris ripped his sword out of the creature and brought the wind up to catch himself, lifting himself from the ground at the last moment.

Narix cartwheeled back, evading all but a quick clawing from the monster attacking her. She rolled to one side as a follow-up attack came, but this time she countered the strike with a triple slash from her dual daggers. The creature staggered back, and Narix immediately followed up with another series of rapid attacks. "Take this, kitty." she said as she began to pummel the creature into submission.

Godar narrowly dodged another attack, then ducked under a follow-up from the other cat-monster. He couldn't keep this up for long, he knew. Then he heard, from somewhere behind him, a female voice. "Images and reality, unite! Blink!" As the two creatures leapt at him, a pair of exact images of himself quickly dodged in two different directions. The two monsters dove after the images, leaving Godar to pick a target and strike at its weakest points. Not taking the time to pay attention to anything else, he smashed the nearest cat-creature in the head, crushing its skull and killing it instantly. With a grunt, he moved to the other and finished it in a similar manner.

Orca let his enemies creep a little closer, knowing himself as the imps assumed that his fire shield would collapse momentarily. Under his breath, he muttered the words of a spell - "Let them feel my full rage - Thunder Storm!" - and even as the fire shield collapsed, his extended hands became a mess of lightning energy, expanding out in every direction. Bolts of pure energy shot out, apparently uncontrolled, slamming over a several metre radius from Orca into every object and creating a sphere of destruction. By the time it calmed down, the imps were nowhere to be seen.

As Narix finished her opponent, the group came back to stand together. Reya, seeing that Kenris had taken a claw attack at his arm which had gone almost clean through, began to mutter the words of her Cure spell. Meanwhile, Godar returned to his examination of the door.

Again, though, it was Reya who spotted the next incoming creature. It had entered the room through some kind of hole in the roof, and was rather strange in appearance, being shaped effectively as two white balls, the top one slightly smaller than the lower one joined together, with a pair of tiny wings on its back. It also had a small ball on its... head? Yes, on closer examination it appeared that it was a head, and the other ball was a torso. It also had a pair of tiny arms and a smaller pair of legs and feet. It hovered down towards them, even as Kenris drew his sword and Godar his staff. And to their surprise, upon reaching their level, it began to speak.

"Hello there, kupo." Kenris glanced at Reya, but she showed no more understanding of the strange term than he held himself. The creature looked over at Reya. "You're Reya Nexus? Sorry about all these things. But why didn't you just say the code?"

Reya looked confused - more so than usual. "Code?"

The creature looked her over. "Your mother never taught you the code? There is a code to turn all the defences off so your friends will be safe."

"I don't know any code." said Reya. "Sorry..."

"No problem, kupo!" said the thing. "I can turn it all off from here anyway. But if you go to any other Nexus points you'll have to find my counterparts there to do the same."

Godar stared at the creature. "What in all the hells are you?" he said.

The thing turned to him. "Me?" it queried. "My name is Kupek. I'm the Moogle assigned to this Nexus point. We're sort of caretakers and assistants to the Nexus people, kupo. I can run the whole place and so on."

"Can you show us around the facility, then?" asked Godar, impatiently.

"If that is what Miss Reya Nexus would desire, kupo, then surely." said the Moogle. "But she's the one I take orders from."

Reya looked up. "Okay then," she said. "Take us for a tour." 


End file.
